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This sort-of sequel to 2003's Oscar-nominated Brazilian drama "City of God" follows two best friends, Ace (Douglas Silva) and Wallace (Darlan Cunha), as they make the transition from boyhood to manhood in the poverty-ridden, crime-infested slums of Rio   de Janeiro.

Big question: Well, is it as good as “City of God”?

Catch it: Cunha and Silva played different characters in "City of God," but the film's success inspired the TV series "City of Men" (broadcast on the Sundance Channel in the U.S.), where they were re-introduced as Wallace and Ace. Both the series and this sequel shift the franchise focus away from the criminals and on to the friendships and family relationships of the average people caught in the crossfire. The approach isn’t as flashy but it’s still interesting, if inevitably less fresh five years later.

Skip it: If you’re expecting the MTV-style camerawork and editing that gave “City of God” its edge—and infuriated some world cinema traditionalists.

Bottom line: Despite charges of exploitation from its harshest critics, “City of God” found an audience beyond the half-empty art-houses that greet most foreign films in America. Substituting the visual bravado and visceral punch director Fernando Meirelles brought to the original with a more emotionally resonant character-driven take, "City of Men" still can't quite resist the lure of a good old-fashioned shoot-out. But it's not the gangsters we're interested in this time around, and gunfire just feels awkward in the midst of a more conventional example of world cinema.

Bonus: Flashbacks from the TV series are used to show the main characters when they were younger, giving a boost to the film’s authenticity.

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